Speech of Mr. Roebuck on the American War — his opinion of the Yankee Nation.

‘
Sir, I have a question to put to the noble lord, the First Minister, which I am very anxious that he should himself answer.
I will preface this question with two preliminary statements.
The first is that my honorable and learned friend, the Solicitor General, informed this House that her Majesty's Government were prepared to remonstrate with the Government of the Confederate States on their employment of agents in this country for illegal purposes.
I would suggest to my honorable and learned friend that he was speaking about a matter which was sub judice; that he spoke not merely in his own person, and that person one to whom we all pay very great respect, but in the character of a great law officer.
And not only that, but by his side sat the attorney General, and it was quite clear that he spoke the opinion of the Attorney General.
Moreover, he was the only member of the ministry who spoke on that occasion, so that he might be supposed to be the organ of the Administration in himself.
The matter on which he spoke was then under the consideration of the law courts, and he expressed distinctly an opinion upon it. I think it would have been wiser it he had abstained altogether from any expression of opinion on a matter of that sort, especially in this House.
But the question being sub judice, we have to inquire at what point the transactions then were

’
It appears to me, sir, that they were exactly at this point: that the Government believed certain things were being done by the Confederate States of America in this country which they held to be illegal; that they had brought those things before the courts of law, and that, as far as we have now gone, the courts of law have decided against the Government.
No doubt there was an appeal, and that appeal (I know not what may have happened to day) is still sub judice. Therefore we may say that the Government, on mere suspicion.
are about to remonstrate with the Government of the Confederate States. That is my first position.
The next one is that the First Minister of the Crown has stated as his policy — and every other member of the Government who has spoken on the subject has said the same thing — the First Minister has stated that they wish to maintain the strictest neutrality between the Federal and the Confederate States.
Now, I believe that the noble lord at the head of the Government really desires to do that; but I am afraid that the noble lord at the head of the Government is not altogether master of the Government.--There are other powers in the Government, and there is one great power that I think somewhat overshadows him and the whole administration.
[Hear, hear] The noble ford, the First Minister has won for himself not only the confidence of the country, but I believe its affectionate regard--[hear, hear]--and anything that he says he will do we are perfect confidence that he means to do. But there is another power by the side of that noble lord, and a power such as has always appeared in the liberal government of this country since the days of the revolution.

We have always had some member of what is called a revolution family in a liberal administration, who has governed perverted, and destroyed it [laughter.] The person to whom I allude and I may say that the honor of England in his hands has not shone forth with the brightness that I could have Wighes.
[Hear, hear.]--Let us go sir, from China to Japan, though that is not far. [A laugh.] But it I go farther if I go to Poland, then to Denmark, and lastly to America, every case I find that the honor, the name of , has been tarnished by what has taken place [Hear, hear.] Sir, I have read the dispatch on this matter, and the feeling predominant in my mind was that of dire humiliation.
[Hear, hear.] I felt that the honor of England was not upheld as thought to have been, and that the strict neutrality which the noble lord the first Minister, professes, and professes honestly, I am sure, was not maintained. --Why, sir, the tone used was, in the first place, like the screams of a cockatoo or the scolding of an angry woman.
[Laughter.] The end was most unequal to the beginning, the words were big but the deeds were the least possible

The noble lord the Foreign Secretary.
seemed frightened by the bluster of the Federal Government, and the moment Mr. Adams threatened war he crouched before the menace, and England seemed to lose her position among the nations.
[Hear, hear.]--That being the case, sir, I feel that I have a right to inquire what is the neutrality which the noble lord professes and what is the state of the two peoples between whom we profess to be neutral?
Now, first and foremost, we may supply contraband of war, and we supplied it to both sides. --There is no difference whatever there.
The next thing that we have supplied is the men, who have gone in hundreds and thousands from this country to America and enlisted as soldiers to fight her battles.
A very small number of our men have gone and enlisted in the navy of the Confederate States, and then comes Mr. Adams and says, ‘"Aye, but these sailors of yours have chased from the face of the waters American commerce."’ If they have done so, I, sir, am very glad.
[Laughter] But where is the difference between this and what has been done by our own men in America?
They have enlisted as military men, and where peace and happiness reigned before they have been made the instruments of spreading a wide and desperate desolation.
[Hear, hear.]

The whole proceedings of this American war are a blot upon human nature [Hear, hear.] And when I am told that I should have sympathy for the Northern States of America, I turn in absolute disgust from their hypocrisy. [Hear, hear.] They are corrupt, they are base, they are cowardly, and they are cruel. [Hear, hear, and Oh!] You say "Oh;" but I want to know what they have said of England and whether they have not said far worse than that other.
But I maintain that the spectacle they have exhibited is truly deplorable and debasing.
Sir there are two things which our law distinctly prohibits, and the Attorney General can correct me if I am wrong.
The first of those two things is the supplying of ships, armed and equipped, to a State at war with another State with which we are in friendship.
This is said to have been done in this country with respect to the Confederate States, and that matter is now sub judice. The Attorney General, with all his acumen and power of persuasion, has not been able to convince a jury of his countrymen that our law has been broken by the Confederate States of America.

The next thing is the enlisting of men here to fight in the cause of the Federals, and that is what is now being done in Ireland.
The right honorable baronet, the Secretary of the Lord Lieutenant, last year acknowledged that the Government of Ireland was perfectly aware of what was going on in Ireland at that time--[hear, hear]--and at this present moment we see it broadly stated in the Times newspaper that the same thing is going on now. [Hear, hear.] I say, then, as you have determined to remonstrate with the Confederate States on mere suspicion — for you have carried it no further — are you prepared now, on mere suspicion, to remonstrate with the Federal States on their enlistment of men in Ireland for the purposes of the war in America?
[Hear, hear.] The question is clear, definite, understandable.
I have perfect faith in the noble lord at the head of the Government, and that he will give me a categorical answer; and if he determines not to make that remonstrance, I hope he will be able to make it clear to the House that he has a good reason for that abstinence on his part.

I myself feel that on this occasion the honor of England is at stake; that we have under the threat for it is a threat — of a war with America, determined as far as we can to deprive the Confederate States of any assistance they can derive from this country.
[Hear, hear.] Into the real feelings of the noble lord I will not inquire.
I rather guess I know them [A laugh.] I fancy he is not a Federal, but of that I don't ask him to give any enunciation.
[A laugh.] All I presume to do is to ask him to be that strictly neutral person he is said to be, and that he will stand up against any and every power, I don't care what or where that power may be, that would endeavor to coerce him to be a party to that Irish kind of neutrality which all on one side.
The question I have to ask is this: As the Solicitor General has stated that "it is the intention of her Majesty's Government to remonstrate with the Government of the Confederate States upon their employment of agents for illegal purposes," and as the First lord of the treasury has declared that the Government of her Majesty desired to maintain the strictest neutrality between the Confederate and Federal States, is it intended to remonstrate with the Government of the Federal states upon the employment by them of agents in Ireland for the purpose of enlisting as soldiers the subjects of her Majesty?
[Hear, hear.]

The Mexican question--the Emperor Maximilian in London.[from the London Star, March 14.]

His Imperial Highness, the Archduke Maximilian, of Austria, the future Emperor of Mexico, accompanied by the Archduchess and a numerous suite, arrived at Caines, by special train from Paris, yesterday morning at one o'clock, and embarked immediately on board a special steamer, the Breeze, the last new mall steamship of the London, Chatham and Dover company.
The Breeze against and wind, performed the voyage to Dover in two hours, a arrival at Dover their Imperial Highnesses proceeded to the Ship Hotel and partook of breakfast, and at four o'clock left by special train on the London Chatham and Dover railway for London, arriving at Victoria station at ten minutes to six A. M, the distance from Dover to London--seventy-eight miles--having been run in one hour and fifty minutes.

The Archduke and Duchess were received at Dover and accompanied to London by Mr. J. S. Martin, the Superintendent of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway Company.
The suite consisted of the Countess Zichy; the Countess Trolonich, the Baron Dupont, the Marquis Corlo the Count Luzow, and the Chovaller Scherzenlechner Onatrival at Victoria Station the imperial party proceeded at once to the Clarendon Hotel, where apartments had been engaged for them.

The Archduke has been travelling in strict incognito, under the title of the Count Lacroma, consequently all the usual receptions and salutes have been dispensed with.

Royal Visits.
[from the London Times, March 14.]

At an early hour yesterday their Imperial Highnesses proceeded to Marlborough House, to pay a visit to the King of the Belgians, the venerable father of the Archduchess.

Later in the day the Princess of Wales drove our with the Archduchess.

Their Imperial Highnesses dined with the Prince and Princess of Wales last night at Marlborough House to meet the King of the Belgians.

[from the London Herald, March 15.]

In consequence of the interest excited by the presence of their Imperial and Royal Highnesses at the Clarendon, and the great crowd assembled in the hope of obtaining a glimpse of the future Emperor and Empress of Mexico, the Prince of Wales and Prince Alfred left the hotel from their visit by the private entrance in Albemarle street.

Last evening the Archduke and Archduchess dined at Buckingham Palace, by invitation of her Majesty the Queen, to meet the King of the Belgians.

A great many royal and distinguished personages paid their respects to the Archduke and Archduchess during yesterday.
Their Royal Highnesses the Duke Demours.
the Prince de Joinville, the Duke D'Aumale, the Duchess Augustus of Saxe Coburg, and the Duke de Chartres, waited upon their imperial relatives early in the day, and the following, among many others, entered their names in their Imperial and Royal Highnesses' visitors' book: The Ambassador of France, the Austrian Ambassador and the Countess Apponyl, the Prussian Ambassador and the Countess Bernstorff, the Turkish Ambassador, the Bavarian Minister, and the Baroness de Cetto, the Belgian Minister and Madame Van de Weyer, Prince Paul Esterhazy, the Earl and Countess of Clarendon, the Earl of St. Germans, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, &c.

Departure of the Emperor from London.
[from the London news, March 16.]

The Archduke Maximilian, the Archduchess and suite, left London this morning for Ostend.
Their Imperial Highnesses were received at the Victoria Station by Mr. Forbes, the general manager of the London, Chatham, and Dover Company, and conducted to a special train which was in readiness.
The train started at 9 o'clock; the journey to Dover was performed in one hour and fifty minutes. On their arrival at Dover the Archduke and Archduchess proceeded to the Royal Ship Hotel, where they partook of luncheon.
The royal party afterwards went in carriages to the Admiralty pier and embarked at forty minutes past eleven A. M.

The Empress of Mexico.[Paris (March 13) correspondence of the London Star.]

The future Empress of Mexico is not at all handsome.
She is very round shouldered, and of royal build and physiognomy, although I have been told by persons who have been presented to her that she is not devoid either of sense or wit.

The draft of a treaty was agreed upon at the Tuilleries, to be ratified so soon as the Emperor Maximilian 4.
shall have ascended the Mexican throne and announced his accession to the Court of the Tuilleries.
If we are rightly informed, the treaty definitively settles two important questions — firstly, the French occupation, and secondly, the claims of the French treasury on the Mexican Government.
It is already known that the pay and maintenance of the troops engaged in the expedition have, since the 1st of January, 1864, been burned by Mexico; this will continue until their recall, which will gradually be effected as the regimental lists of the Mexican army are completed.
Three battalions of the foreign region, each 2,000 men strong, and composed of enrolled volunteers, will remain in the service of Mexico.
The desire of French officers to enter this service is so great that for some weeks past the number of aspirants has far exceeded the ranks to be filled up.

The Mexican debt due to France comprises, besides the pecuniary claims of private individuals duty acknowledged, the costs of the expedition and the advances made by the French Government to the Mexican treasury to defray the expenses of the army of occupation.
the debt will be paid by fourteen annual instalments, each probably amounting to twenty-five millions with the option of previous liquidation should the condition of the Mexican finances admit of it.

Shortly before one o'clock this morning (March 12) a great reservoir at Bradfield, six miles from Sheffield, burst its embankment.
The area of the reservoir was ninety-five acres, and but just finished.

The enormous body of water rushed down the valley of the Don, sweeping away all the bridges over the river, a great number of houses on its banks, and destroying, it is feared scores of their inhabitants.

The lower part of Sheffield was submerged several feet deep, and hundred of families driven from their homes.

The flood has not yet subsided, and the damage is incalculable.

The SheffieldTelegraph gives graphic details, and says: About midnight a large reservoir connected with the water works, and extending to above a mile in length, situated about seven miles from the town, suddenly burst in, and inundated the valley of the Don, sweeping away entire villages, drowning the sleeping inhabitants by hundreds.
Trees were uprooted, and the debris of buildings carried down the river was immense.
In some of the streets of Sheffield the debris is piled up eight and ten feet high, and among it are found fragments of furniture and many dead bodies.
For more than an hour the streets near the river were three and four yards deep in water.
Great numbers of men are now engaged getting dead bodies out of houses where they have been drowned in bed. Others are being gathered in from gardens into which they have floated.
Excitement in the town cannot be described.
Business is at a standstill.
Extent of mischief cannot be ascertained; hundreds of lives are sacrificed.
The dam was a new one.
The immense volume of water is still pursuing its course of destruction.
Rotherham, Doncaster and many other towns will suffer ere the river Trent receives the excess of water which has been set at liberty.

Dead.[from the Sheffield telegraph, March 14.]

From the large quantity of trees and brushwood brought down the river the victims, who were for the most part drowned while escaping from their beds, are found bruised and quite nude if nude those may be called who have received, instead of the night dresses the driftwood has removed, a thin clothing of clay.
Some of the dead have an expression of fierce energy upon their faces, and their last act is expressed as well as words could express it by the expression of the face and the attitude of the arms.
In one the teeth are clenched, and the right arm thrown forward as if striking at something; in others both.
arms are thrown forward in a swimming attitude, and have so stiffened.--In many eases the living have died in their beds without leaving any sign to show that the water had waked them, or that they had consciously passed from the sleep of life to the long, long sleep of death.
Several of those found have been as much killed as drowned, for one has a broken arm and another has a broken leg, and some are so bruised and mangled as to indicate that they had first been crushed under the wreck of their houses and then washed out when the torrent imparted motion to the wreck, or else that they had been caught between drifting trees and beams.

The number of dead yet known does not exceed one hundred and eighty.

The Confederate cotton loan.[from the London Times (City article,) March 15]

The Confederate loan has experienced a rally of 3 per cent to-day, closing at 47 @49 on the last intelligence from New York, and the advance in the premium on gold to $1½ but other securities in the foreign market have been rather dull.

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